Halfway Around the World
by BIG Z1776
Summary: The Harekaze has been specifically named to be the ship the Yokosuka Girl's Marine High School will send for its annual transfer of student ships. Now, she's bound for the Caribbean and the Atlantic, there she'll meet the great marine schools of Europe and America. But the shadow of the Incident will follow the Harekaze to the other side of the world. Will her crew rise again?
1. Chapter 1

**I saw the series, decided I liked the concept, and wanted to write an idea. So let's go for it right? Some of the series' setting I don't necessarily like in terms of the submergence of much of the world, so I decided to mess with it in the area of the Caribbean Sea, it's its own tectonic plate so I decided something happened and the plate and the islands on it got pushed up and additional islands sprung up making the sea quite dense with tropical white sandy islands covered in palm trees.**

Chapter 1

Yokosuka Girls' Marine High School

The Harekaze, this one the second ship to bear the name, was currently docked next to two much larger ships signified what they were going to be doing. The two larger ships were the fleet oiler Kazahaya, 18,300 tons, and the Mamiya, 15,820 tons. These two support ships were specifically there for the Harekaze's coming voyage, and were going to see their little destroyer across the vast blue waters of the Pacific.

There were supplies being loaded onto all three ships as Captain Akeno Misaki walked towards her ship pulling a rolling suitcase behind her. The young brunette captain had been told, as all the other members of the crew had, to pack for an extended period of absence from school. This had come after the approval by the school and the agreement of the crew of the Harekaze itself to partake in this special cruise. The Harekaze was stepping into place as an exchange ship, her destination was the Atlantic, the school in question, Ile Longue Marine Academy, a French School, was now taking its turn hosting a ship from Yokosuka as part of a cyclical rotation agreement between the world's sea-going schools. Normally Yokosuka would exchange with, in a cyclical order, the Royal Maritime High School of Great Britain, the Pacific Coast Maritime High School of the USA, the Taranto Maritime Academy of Italy, the Gulf Coast Maritime High School and then the Atlantic Coast Maritime High School, both American, then Wilhelmshaven Maritime High School, and then Ile Longue Marine Academy, and then the cycle repeats itself.

Misaki knew that this was going to be a special cruise, they would be crossing the Pacific Ocean, crossing through the Panama Passage, and then into the crowded tropical island chains of the Caribbean Sea for exercises with a squadron from Ile Longue participating in a larger wargame scenario near San Juan, Haiti, Jamaica, and the Lesser Antilles Islands against the local American student fleet from the Gulf Coast Maritime High School, which operates in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and much of the Southern Atlantic.

Then they'd move north with the French student squadron, to European waters, where they would go first to the Mediterranean, home and domain of the main French and Italian student fleets, then to the North Sea and the English Channel, where an old friend awaited them at Wilhelmshaven Maritime High School. Also in those waters was the proud and majestic student fleet of the Royal Maritime High School, an incredibly storied school of great tradition and proud history. Also frequenting those waters was another American school, East Coast Maritime High School. Misaki had made the comment that they wouldn't be getting away from the Americans for much of their cruise, getting more than a few laughing face emojis on the ship crew's group chat.

It was quite an exciting time to be a student aboard the Harekaze, normally a destroyer would never be sent as a school's representatives on an exchange. In the usual circumstances Yokosuka sent their Nagato, the Hiei, or the Akagi and students who were well-versed in international affairs aboard a ship that was fast and powerful, an excellent ambassador for Yokosuka High. A ship as small as a Kagero-Class Destroyer was usually seen as an insult, but not the Harekaze. They'd been requested.

Misaki walked to the gangway past some fellow students, waving and saying hello as she passed. When she got to her ship she saw a familiar fellow crew member. It was a familiar fat orange cat.

"Isoroku," Misaki cried out, looking up at the cat that sat on the deck as she climbed up and returned to her ship, "You're coming with us?"

The cat didn't make a move or noise, just sort of stared up at her and Misaki just smiled and patted him on the head. He just looked up at her and she knew that this was the same cat from before.

"Good to have you back Isoroku," Misaki giggled as a few more people walked up.

It was the Harekaze's deputy captain, Munetani Mashiro, Shiro, and their principal.

"Shiro-san!" Misaki cried out happily.

"Captain, good to see you're on time, I sure thought you would've been late because of the collision near school."

"Well, I decided to try a different route today, so I guess I was lucky I missed that traffic," Misaki smiled bashfully.

"Typical," Mashiro smiled gently, knowing that her captain was perhaps the luckiest individual she had ever met.

"Why don't we start our briefing?" Principal Munetani responded, bringing them to the moment as she stepped aboard.

The two ship's officers replied with an obedient snap to attention and followed her to the classroom. Mashiro placed her own cat, Tamonmaru, a little gray kitten, onto the deck with Isoroku. The two cats followed the three into the classroom where Principal Munetani placed a map with markings for a course and rendezvous points.

"The Harekaze will set a course north and then east, riding the Oyashio and then the Kamchatka Currents south of the Aleutians to save fuel and then south again on the California Current and sail west of the United States' Pacific Coast until you reach the Panama Passage. En route you will be replenished and refueled as needed at the marked locations. You will then pass through the Panama Passage and will meet up with the Ile Longue Dunkurque Squadron and will be attached to them for the semester. Here are the required worksheets, assignments, and other materials," she said, handing over a stack of manila envelopes, "You'll hand them over to your instructor from Ile Longue and then they'll administer the exams and will scan them over to us for grading. After your final exam you will traverse the Mediterranean, pass through Suez, the Indian Ocean, and will return home."

"You won't let you done Munetani-senpai," Misaki declared proudly.

"Your crew should be arriving shortly, you will depart at oh-eight hundred leading the Kazayiha and Mamiya, good luck, make us proud," the older woman said and stood upright, rolling up the map and placing a rubber band on it and handing it over to Misaki.

"Thank you sensei," Misaki bowed respectfully, "We will."

Two Hours Later

The ship's crew was giddy with excitement, the buzzing mood in the classroom of the ship as she sailed northeast was quite a good way to show that. Cruising at twenty-four knots, they'd gotten into open water, where the weather was rather chilly, and the crew was wearing their school's uniform jackets over their uniforms' T-shirts. It was an easy day thus far. They'd left port, taken the lead in the formation of three ships and sailed without interruption until they were free of the commercial traffic. This meant that now they were able to get told of their plan and as Captain Misaki decided that it was a good time for their first assignment of the semester.

"Hello everyone, how are you?" Misaki asked as she stood in front of them at the chalkboard.

A chorus of good and not bad along with a few 'I'm cold' responses came from them.

"Well, we're on our way east, to the Caribbean!" and then a few cheers sounded out, "We'll be sailing northeast, riding the currents to save fuel. It'll be cold, so stay warm please. When we get into the Caribbean Sea we'll be taking part in wargames and maneuvers alongside our host school, Ile Longue Marine Academy. Then we'll sail to the Mediterranean, and then to the North Sea and English Channel, taking part in maneuvers alongside the great maritime high schools of Europe."

Some interested murmurs came from the crew as they pondered this.

"But first," Mashiro called out, stepping forward, "We have our school's work assignments. These worksheets that are all due Friday, and here's the assignment for our first essay. Also we'll be handing out the schedule for our coursework this semester. So plan accordingly please. If anyone has any questions you can ask now."

Now a loud groan sounded out from the assembled class. Like any students anywhere they didn't like homework. Schoolwork for students of Yokosuka was not unlike normal schoolwork, worksheets, pop quizzes, essays, and exams. But they had their captain and deputy captain hand out their daily work and any questions were sent to their instructors. School never stopped, even though they had their shipboard duties to fulfill, the basics like history, math, science, language arts, and others were standard, and this meant that worksheets came with them, and after that were exams interspersed with quizzes. Mashiro started handing out these thick paper worksheets that everyone begrudgingly took, placing them into the binders that were issued to everyone.

"Now, remember to keep track of due dates, the turn-in boxes will shut tight on schedule, we can't do anything about it, and no, we cannot say we lost them over the side. The boxes stay in the academic room under lock and key," Mashiro reaffirmed to them, pointing to the labeled boxes that were where they turned in their sheets, quizzes, exams.

Today there were ten of them in holders on the wall by the door. They had more than thirty aboard the Harekaze, each for the different assignments that even divided down to their individual departments as well as more general subjects for everyone.

"Is that it?" Hikari Ogasawara asked once everyone's sheets were handed out.

Mashiro sighed, "Yes, if no one is going to stay to work on their worksheets you're dismissed."

"Oh wait everyone!" Akeno called out as many of their classmates started getting up, "We'll have a study session three times a week after dinner here in the classroom, make sure you come so we can help each other. That's what families do."

Mashiro nodded to herself that it was a good idea, many of their shipmates were indeed in need of assistance academically. Their ship's crew was still technically the lowest in terms of their scores, and that was purely academics and academics was a very real part of school, even on ships.

"I can help with your maritime law and history," Mashiro offered, "Be here on…Tuesdays and Thursdays after dinner and we can go over our material. Gunnery, Engineering, I want two of you to volunteer for tutoring mathematics on Mondays and Fridays, I expect more all of you to be there."

"Yeah I'll definitely be there," Akeno said, meekly rubbing the back of her neck, knowing her maritime law needed a bit of work.

"I guess I'll held with math," Maron sighed as no one else volunteered for the math assistance.

"We can help too," Shima piped up, grabbing Mei around the shoulders and pulling her close, signifying that she had roped in the shy Torpedo officer into being a tutor.

"A-aye?" Mei said, her eyes widening at what had just dawned on her.

"Now, if anyone else needs help please ask your shipmates, we all have our talents, we're all able to make this the best transfer cruise ever. So let's do our best!" Akeno giddily called out, raising a fist in triumph, getting a cheer from the others.

"Before we leave we have a simple worksheet to complete before lunch," Mashiro stopped everyone.

"Aw…"

"What is it?" Akeno asked as she looked at the stack of paper, and saw the assignment, a non-academic survey.

"Okay maybe worksheet isn't the best way to describe it. It's just a survey, just fill in what you think you'll learn and all that other stuff," Mashiro waved everyone down from their panic.

A collective sigh of relief responded to her as the papers were passed out and the crew began filling in the free response survey sheet. The room was buzzing and soon everyone was putting their sheets into the collection bin. Akeno was the last one, choosing to wait for everyone to turn it in. Mashiro took the remaining sheets and stood up with them.

"Captain, I'll go take these to the crew on duty on the bridge and in the engine room for them to complete and turn in," Mashiro said, and noted how quiet Akeno was, not looking up at her, "Captain?"

"Shiro-san, we're really on our way aren't we?" Akeno said softly, looking up at her, "On our way to be half-way around the world, so far from home?"

"Captain, the Harekaze is home now, home is where your family is. And our family is here, just like you said."

"You're right, thank you Shiro-san."

"Anytime."

Two Days Later, South of Kodiak Island

"We leave you in the hands of the Americans now Captain Misaki," the captain of the Mamiya said through a megaphone to the Harekaze as the lines connecting the two ships were severed, finishing their underway replenishment.

"Thank you, Captain Fujita, safe travels home!" Akeno responded on her own megaphone, bundled up tightly in her school-issued storm coat at the port bridge wing of the Harekaze's bridge.

"Take lots of pictures for us, safe travels!"

"Rin-san, make course south-south-east, engine room, ahead standard, we'll rendezvous with…Pacific Coast High School ships off of Puget Sound. Is that right Kuoko-san?" the brunette ordered, walking into the warmer partially enclosed bridge.

"Aye captain, they'll be waiting for us and will have a tanker and a supply ship to take us to the Panama Canal, then we'll meet ships of the Ile Longue Maritime Academy," Kuoko nodded, showing the course set for them by the school, highlighting their current journey's leg.

"Captain," a voice from the speaker from sonar came up, "I'm picking up a sub-surface contact, far out, bearing zero-one-five."

"Submarine?" Akeno asked.

"This far north? I don't think there are American or Japanese student submarines out this far," Mashiro said thoughtfully, "Check on that please?"

"This is true, there's also no Canadian submarines because their school doesn't have one."

"Communication, report the contact to the school, follow protocol," Mashiro ordered the communications department.

"Aye."

"Captain contact is definite submarine, a large one, it's coming shallow," sonar reported, causing the entire bridge to peer out, the others with their binoculars.

"Any sign of a periscope?"

"Negative," Mashiro replied, scanning intently for anything unnatural, but the light fog and dark cold sea made it hard.

"Captain the submarine is diving again, I'm losing it…and it's gone, I think it's heading towards a storm to the south."

"It's alright, we'll keep an eye out," Akeno replied, pointing her binoculars at the storm coming towards them, "Shiro-san, give the order to close the deck and secure outer hatches please?"

"Of course," Mashiro nodded, walking to the ship intercom and made the announcement.

"What time is dinner? I'm cold…" Rin whined, having been at her station for some time.

"Curry sounds good," Mei mumbled to herself, rubbing her binoculars' rubber component with some rubbing alcohol to clean it off.

"Hmm…in this cold that does sound satisfying," Shima said, stretching her back a bit as she took her eyes off of the binoculars on her side.

"Dinner is ready," the speakers called out, Mikan Irako being the one to send the good news.

"Go ahead Shiro-san, Kuoko and I can handle the bridge," Akeno said pleasantly, nodding to the others.

They all said their thank you's and Akeno and Kuoko found themselves on the bridge alone. Kuoko took the helm, and Akeno leaned on the large fixed binoculars in the bridge, resting her chin against the device. The two stayed silent a moment as the ship just motored along, moving quietly through the mist, occasionally a small piece of ice arose from the mist and Kuoko, at Akeno's orders, maintained a wide berth. They knew all-too-well from the many stories of the Titanic that ships and ice don't mix. All was quiet until one of the two twins, Akane Kinesaki, arrived in the bridge with tray and two bowls of Yosenabe, each with some thin-sliced hard-boiled eggs, shrimp, beef, veggies, and tofu.

"Miss Irako said you might like a bowl of Yosenabe up here in the cold," the cooking officer stated with a warm smile as she handed over the tray along with some warm cups of tea.

"Thank you very much Akane-san," Kuoko said gratefully as she took the tray.

"I've never been on the bridge before," the girl said as she looked around, a smile on her face as she looked about, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings.

"Really?" Akeno asked, cocking her head as she blew on a spoonful of hot soup, "Never?"

"No, we always had other tasks. But I'll have to get some time in every part of the ship for my homework."

"Oh no!" Akeno cried out, "My homework! I forgot to turn it in!"

"It's okay captain, you still have until midnight," Kuoko said through a mouthful.

"Captain…what's that?" Akane asked, pointing at a shape on the water, orange and shaped like a ball.

"Looks like a float," Kuoko said, leaning down to take a look, "A crab fishing float. That makes no sense out here at this time…unless…" she started to figure something in her drama-prone mind, and it came out as a dramatic monologue, "It's a plot to smuggle secrets from the submarine to its handlers!" but then she changed voices to a meek and girly tone, "But we have stumbled upon it! What if they pursue us?!" then the firm authoritative tone returned, "You shall be captured and silenced, OUR PLAN SHALL NEVER BE REVEALED!"

Poor Akane was now shaking, the thought of being in some cruel plot like that scared her just a bit.

"M-m-miss Nosa? That's not what's happening is it?"

Akeno smiled in return, "She's just letting her imagination got the better of her, that float probably fell off a fishing boat and is just floating freely. Steer us close, I'll hook it and remove it so some poor sea creature doesn't get entangled."

She left the bridge, placing her soup in the communications room's table where the long-blonde-haired Tsugumi Yagi was eating an identical bowl of soup and listening for communications, at her post.

"Captain?" the blonde asked curiously.

"Just some litter, I'm gonna go pick it up out of the water."

"Oh, okay."

The weather was starting to get bad, and Akeno walked out and saw the float with a small length of rope freely floating on the surface next to them as she pulled a throwing hook out of the gear closet amidships and threw the treble hook with rope attached. The hook landed next to the float, and it landed at the place it needed to as the ship went by. She pulled quickly, feeling the slick rope in her gloved hands until the large orange float was on the deck. Finishing it up she pulled it up and saw the rope attached to it wasn't just a random length, eaten away by the sea. It was tied off to an iron weight.

"Huh?" she asked herself, looking at the iron block, and saw it was about twenty pounds, and was on a different rope from the one on the water, "That's odd…" she thought to herself as she pulled it inside, the ship, and placed the entire thing in the vessel's trash bin, thinking nothing more of it.

"Did you get it captain?" Kuoko asked.

"I did, I was pretty lucky I got it with one throw of the hook," Akeno grinned sheepishly, "I forgot how fast we were going."

"Well, your famous luck once more saves the day, this time, just saving a piece of trash from littering the ocean," Kuoko said as Tsugumi arrived in the bridge with Akeno's bowl.

"Here you are Captain, and a response from the school, they said not to worry about the submarine. It may have been from a research ship," she said, handing the paper with the transcript over.

"I didn't know there's a research ship out here…" Kuoko mumbled.

"That's what they told us," Tsugumi raised the palms of her hands.

"Kuoko-san…don't…"

"But-," Kuoko gasped.

"Just enjoy your soup before it gets cold."

 **Well, short but sweet, and hopefully the first of many more. I'm not an expert on Japanese culture as far as names and naming convention goes, I'm learning as I go along. I'll do what diligence I can in regards to the ships and weapons and tactics involved as well as Japanese culture. It's a work in progress, any suggestions will be appreciated as that goes.**

 **Next Chapter Preview: The Panama Canal, and the Caribbean.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Location: Panama Passage

The _Harekaze_ had just passed through the straits, thanks in part to the pilot that had just departed the ship back onto a speedboat that awaited to take him back. The ship was now free to return to her mission rather than wait in line at the straits. For this the crew was thankful, yet somewhat disappointed. Seeing dozens and dozens of ships of many different sizes and types was an incredible learning opportunity. In fact each of them had homework assignments dealing with this event.

"So, what are you gonna write for the homework about the Panama Canal? Shiro-chan?"

"The importance of time saved to commercial traffic, the safety aspect of not having to cross the Straits of Magellan, and to military strategy."

"So common sense."

"Aye."

"Oh, well I was going to write about that too."

"It's what the assignment said to do," Mashiro sighed, knowing that they were just supposed to follow the outline and do as they were told to do and the essay would be as easy to write as could be.

"Oh wow, look at that!" Kuoko called out, pointing at a massive white vessel coming from behind the _Harekaze_.

The vessel was cruiser-sized, a white-hulled submarine with red painted onto the top deck and a red pair of conning towers, one on the bow and one larger one amidships. It had Chinese characters written on it and a stylized Chinese PRC flag on the peaked bow. The ship was a state of the art, with glass domed satellite dishes, insulated fiber optic antennae, and several dozen adult crew in blue nonmilitary uniforms were on deck, just enjoying the fine Caribbean weather. It was an imposing vessel, and was especially true seeing as it was just massive, being quite wide, having dimensions more akin to a large yacht.

"What is it?" Akeno asked, holding up her binoculars to ship that was catching up to them, disregarding numerous safety regulations in the crowded waters as the _Harekaze_ made her course for the island of Jamaica.

"It's Chinese…" Mashiro pointed out, "The…" she tried to read the vessel's name, "Nothing in latin lettering, just a number, zero, two, two. I can't read Mandarin."

"Here it is," Kuoko said as she typed away at her pad, "It's the research submarine _Xiangyanghong 022_. It says that the sub's mission isn't widely known, but is believed to be used for biological and deep sea research."

"I don't like it, my mom-I mean Principal Munetani said to be wary of Chinese vessels. Captain, I recommend we keep our distance," Mashiro told Akeno, very, very serious about her assertion.

"Very well, Rin-chan, please steer away to the northeast, course zero-four-five," Akeno gave the order.

Now Kuoko's imagination returned to the forefront. She pulled herself into a 'bad guy pose' and deepened her voice.

"They suspect our cruel plan, we cannot afford to allow them to escape!" she declared, and then continued, "Prepare to submerge, we shall shadow the innocent students of the _Harekaze_ and at our moment of choice we'll pounce!"

To accentuate this she "pounced" next to Shima, Mei, and Rin. The last of whom screamed loudly at being so scared. Shima and Mei almost jumped into one another's arms. Kuoko's delusions were beginning to hit home and frightening her fellow bridge crew.

"Miss Nosa, could you please refrain from scaring everyone?" Mashiro sighed and shook her head.

"They're just theories," Kuoko laughed, then darkened her voice once more, "Or are they…"

"Kuoko-san…" poor Rin said with a shaky voice.

"Oh, sorry Rin-san, I didn't mean to scare you," Kuoko began profusely apologizing.

"It's okay, most things scare Rin-san," Mei laughed, wrapping an arm around their helmsman, who blushed slightly.

"It's-it's true, I'm not very brave," Rin sighed, sheepishly smiling.

"It's okay Rin-chan," Akeno replied, looking at the brunette with a reassuring smile, "You've proved that you can be brave when we need you. Like when we steered in front of the Musashi, you never left your station."

"Yep, she did well," Mei now decided to give Rin a noogie, rubbing her knuckles on top of Rin's head for a few seconds.

"You all did," Akeno added, and Shima stopped, and confidently leaned back, throwing her hands behind her head.

"Yeah, I guess the torpedo crew did get a one hundred percent hit rate," she smirked.

"Aye," Shima nodded.

"Which is why we're on our way to be an exchange ship," Mashiro told them, "The performance of the ship and crew has garnered a great deal of attention. But don't get comfortable, the ships we're going to sail with and skirmish with are some of the most formidable in the world."

"The fastest student ships in the world are the French _Fantasque_ -Class, they can make forty-five knots at flank speed and they and the Mogador-Class are the largest destroyer class we'll ever see," Kuoko informed them, showing the pictures of the ships on her datapad.

"Then there's the American student fleets, there's just so many of them…" Mashiro sighed, "Plus, the American and European ships are all coed, except for the submarines, which are all crewed by boys."

"You mean when we meet the Spee they'll have boys on board?" Akeno asked.

"Yes, when the ships of the European and American fleets send an exchange ship they crew it with either boys or girls depending on the school they're going to," Mashiro responded, "You were all told that many boys will try to…make us their girlfriends…" she trailed off, somewhat embarrassed to say such a thing.

"Like any of them will be up to my standards," Shima laughed, drawing the attention of all of the bridge personnel, "What?"

"You've thought about this already?" Kuoko responded.

"My mom told me what to look for in a suitor, he must smart, funny, polite, and above all caring," Shima nonchalantly relayed, "Plus, we won't be around any of them long enough for a boy to check all those boxes right? So why worry about boyfriends when we can just make friends right?"

There were some nods of agreement. This was solid logic, no boys were going to be allowed to stay aboard the _Harekaze_ for any stretch of time at all except for the obvious-to-identify emergency that was less than likely to occur as well as the occasional ship visit and tours that were pretty standard for all sides and had an academic connotation to them. The ships that the _Harekaze_ crew were to meet at Port Royale were the destroyers of the French student squadron, six of the large and super-fast _Fantasque_ -Class Destroyers led by a two more heavily armed _Mogador_ -Class. There they'd then wait for the larger French student ships, the Battleships _Dunkurque, Strasbourg,_ and _Richelieu_ , the heavy cruisers _Suffren_ and _Foche_ , the light cruisers _Gloire_ , La Galissoniere, and _Montcalm_ , and the hospital ship _Pasteur._ Escorting them were three _Aquitaine_ -Class Frigates, their instructor ships. Below the surface four submarines including the _Surcouf_ would bring up the rear along with contractor-manned oilers and supply ships, the French school didn't have enough students nor did the French fleet of the past even have their own support fleet like most other schools did. But they did have a seaplane tender, the _Commandante Teste_ with its three drone blimps, a safer and more cost-effective aircraft for students to train with, that were restricted to reconnaissance purposes for safety.

Here, they'd partake in annual wargames against the American Gulf Coast Maritime Academy. The fleet there was impressive, three impressive battleships, the _Iowa_ , the _Indiana_ , the _South_ _Dakota_ , and a battlecruiser, the _Alaska_ were supported by a drone-equipped fleet carrier, the _Essex_ , and two escort carriers, the _Tripoli_ and the _Manila_ _Bay_ , each having numerous blimp drones They had an escort fleet of four heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, and eighteen destroyers with eight submarines below the surface and sixteen support ships. The French fleet was immensely outnumbered and equally outgunned, but it was just their turn, according to research that Kuoko had done it had been the Italian fleet that had taken the beating from the American fleet last semester here in their home waters.

Akeno had been told of what was probably going to occur. Winning the wargames was not going to be much of a possibility. But the real purpose of the wargames was the teaching of teamwork within the ship and with other ships, training communications skills, analysis, and of course seamanship. A large amount of experience would be gained especially when it came to navigating waters crowded with fishing boats, cruise ships, and many islands with shallow reefs. It would a be a true test of their baser skills and training, with the actual 'battle' being secondary, a means towards training basic skills. Fomenting competitiveness was just another clever tactic towards sharpening focus and it instilled quite a bit of school pride which for Western schools was a big deal. The Japanese schools just sort of entertained these aggressive maneuvers.

"Captain, we're clear of the main traffic," Mashiro said once the ship had left the crowded waters.

"Okay, we can resume standard watch times," Akeno nodded, "Whose has the bridge?"

"Oh, it's my watch!" Mei raised her hand, "Mayumi-san! You're up!"

"Is it my turn to man the helm?" the tall raven-haired tanned girl asked, poking her head in from the bridge wing.

"Yes, you and Ms. Irizaki have the bridge until noon. Stay clear of that Chinese research submarine, standard practice," Mashiro told the two.

"Oh, are they following us Captain?" Mayumi asked as Rin gave up her spot at the helm.

"No, probably not Mayumi-chan," Akeno shook her head, "Have a good watch, I'll be back for my watch to relieve you after lunch."

"See you in a little bit Captain!" Mei responded pleasantly.

"So what do you think is for lunch?" Akeno asked as she passed the classroom, but Mashiro went in and snatched the back of Akeno's shirt.

"No you don't, we're writing our report."

"Aww…"

Two Hours Later, Yokosuka Girls High School

The ships of the student fleet were at sea, only the support ships were in port, restocking from their mission to get the _Harekaze_ to Alaska. Principal Munetani was currently sitting at her desk, reading over the first reports from maneuvers with the squadron. Things had gone well, no damage, no incidents, the _Musashi_ had led the other ships well, proving its crew's skill and talent. But her focus was broken when a video call rang on her desktop.

It was from the Ministry of Education, which was not at all unexpected nowadays, especially after what had happened with the RAT Virus. The students had all been inoculated from inadvertent exposure, seeing as supposedly one of the containers from the research ship had not been located, it was presumed lost by now, seeing as the gerbil-hybrid would have run out of food and water by now and the container would have sunk, never to be found again. But such as with all major incidents they didn't expect the problems to go away, and Principal Munetani was constantly being demanded to give report after report and attend hearing after hearing in ministry after ministry. It was beginning to get tiresome.

"This is Principal Munetani," she said, and saw the highly concerned face of the Minister of Education looking back at her.

"Principal Munetani, how are you?"

"I am well Minister, how can I help you?" she asked, cracking a pilot smile.

"Are you alone?"

"Yes…"

"Good, it has come to my attention from the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office that one of your student ships' names has repeatedly come up in transmissions to Beijing. We can't know for certain if the _Harekaze_ is in danger, but the belief of OIRO is that the _Harekaze_ is not. We know that she has traversed the Panama Passage into the Caribbean," the man said quietly, "And a single Chinese research submarine passed shortly behind her into the Caribbean. It could be coincidence, but we figured it best to alert you."

"And what is to be done then Minister?"

"They have stated that we in the Education Ministry are to do nothing to warn the _Harekaze_ , if we bring her back or order an escort the Intelligence people stated that it could tip off Beijing and they may change their codes. Or worse, force them to action and if it is the _Harekaze_ it may mean trouble with her being alone right now according to our live GPS."

"So we don't do anything?" she asked.

"Not directly to the _Harekaze_. The government wants you to send a physical message to Il Longue's student ship, the _Jean Bart_ , one that they will then transmit to their own school, they have instructor frigates near the _Harekaze_ in Guadeloupe. One should be able to meet them in Jamaica and protect them. The _Harekaze_ should be safe by then with the French student and instructor squadron around them. We were told that the Chinese wouldn't be listening to the French the same they listen to us according to the intelligence branch," the Minister responded.

"If there is a danger that means one thing. This has to be done with the utmost secrecy, no transmissions on our end to the _Harekaze_. If they're actually being watched it has to be our French colleagues who do the communicating," Principal Munetani replied.

"Then I should leave you to it. The uh…the _Harekaze_ knows the protocol with Chinese government ships does it not?"

"My daughter is aboard as Deputy Captain, she is all too aware of protocol, stay away. If approached contact the school immediately," she responded, "Then it is up to the government to deal with the situation and the ship is to continue on its course and not to make sort of aggressive moves except in self-defense. I helped write that protocol Minister."

"Good so that should be it from me then, protect our students Principal," the man implored one last time and closed the video call.

Now Principal Munetani allowed herself to lean back and sigh. Her heart was beating a thousand times a minute. Her daughter was, theoretically in harms way. Why they didn't know. But there were indications it had something to do with the Chinese. And with the Chinese there was no telling what they were willing to do to get what it was they wanted. The worst part about that was that they didn't know what the Chinese were even talking about. It was potentially plausible that the word _Harekaze_ was code for something, and didn't have anything to do with that little destroyer halfway around the world at all. For now, there was nothing to do but be cautious. She penned her letter on the computer, then translated it to French and printed it, sealed it in an envelope with a great big "FOR COMMUNICATION PERSONNEL ONLY" written on the envelope she put it in French on the front and signed her name. She stood up and walked to the dock, where the _Mamiya_ was currently awaiting orders before sailing.

"Captain Fujita," the older woman called out as she got to the dock and saw the young captain signing the last of her transfer papers, "We need you to hand this letter, in person and sealed, to the communications officer aboard the _Jean Bart_. It is not to leave your possession or be opened until then. Tell her to transmit this as soon as she opens it. You sail immediately, they'll meet you halfway. Understand Captain?"

"Y-yes Munetani-senpai, I understand," the young captain agreed and bowed.

"Very well."

Eight Hours Later, Petrel Islands

The ship was pulling into the small island chain and could see that it was indeed true, the Caribbean Sea had shrunk. Whereas in the Pacific the water level relative to the land had risen considerably the Caribbean's islands had grown in size, and even shallower reefs had turned into islands themselves. This was the case for the former reef system turned island chain called the Petrel Islands. They were completely covered now in white sands with palm trees covering most of the islands' interiors. It was now an ideal Caribbean destination. This was the Harekaze's crew's impression as well.

Most of the crew were on deck in their swimsuits with towels around their necks along with a lot of water noodles, squirt guns, chairs, bags, and inflatables. Excitement was looming for the girls of the ship, as they had just learned that they'd arrived early, a whole day in fact. Which meant free time for themselves after what had been a swamp of course work over the past few days. The ship's canvas shades were up, covering the decks in welcome relief from the day's sun. But now it was getting close to sunset. Swimming wasn't looking very attractive, especially when the ship finally dropped anchor.

Below the ship they saw in the shallow waters the dark outlines of reef sharks, lots of them just beginning to rise from their day of slumber for their hunting time.

"Maybe this place isn't so great for swimming…" Hikari Ogasawara mumbled as she and her fellow artillery personnel looked over the railing.

"Yeah…I guess not, look at them all. There's so many," Heki Junko replied with awe.

"The Caribbean is full of sharks, I read it on the internet. They have Hammerheads, Bull Sharks, Tiger Sharks, and even Great Whites all over these waters," Michiru Takeda added some information to the mix.

"Wow…now I really don't want to swim…" Hikari mumbled in a terrified manner, leaning away from the railing, lest one of those maneater species somehow jump at them.

The crew's musings were interrupted by a few words that everyone recognized that began going around. "Person" and "beach" among them. They all scanned the pristine white beach then spied it, a khaki shape on the sand across the bay from the Harekaze and her crew. But for those who examined closer it wasn't one person that was laying on the beach, it was two. Those who had good enough eyes were able to see that neither of them was moving. This was what raised the alarm for the bridge, who had binoculars and could see this distressing sight.

"All hands! Get a boat to the beach, hurry!" Captain Misaki called out from the port side bridge wing, and the crew now started scrambling, "Someone get Miss Minami-san!"

The ship's crew jumped into action. Many of the girls first ran to put on something over their swimsuits, just in case the one or both were of the male variety. Soon one of the Harekaze's launches was lowered over the side and a half dozen of her crew were motoring towards the beach under the leadership of Mashiro. As the boat approached the beach she recognized the uniform, it was an American uniform with an orange life preserver in front of them both on the sand. But there was more.

"Carefully now," Mashiro told their driver who slowed to beach the launch up against the sand gently and the five other girls, all members of Gunnery, jumped out and ran to the two forms, now realizing one was a girl with a blonde ponytail and the other was a red-haired boy, "Are they alive?" she asked.

Heki reached over and touched the girl's neck gently, praying for a pulse.

"She's alive!"

"So's the boy!" Hikari added, holding the boy's wrist.

"Wow, they're tiny," Ritsuko Matsunaga said as they kneeled down next to them, and turned the boy over to face up and saw he had been laying on a blue baseball hat with his ship's name and silhouette below the name of his school written in English. But missing on their uniforms were nametags, like normal American uniforms possessed.

"They're Middle Schoolers," Mashiro said, picking up the wet cap and brushing the sand from it, "They're from the…Texas Coast Middle School, home of the…USTS Texas. A dreadnought!"

"That's right, American middle schools don't stay on land, they have ships of their own," Heki said as they rolled the girl over onto her back and they saw that both of the two kids were indeed quite young, perhaps only eleven or twelve years old.

"They're very badly sunburned, they must have been on the water a long time," Mashiro said, brushing a hand softly against the girl's cheek, pushing a few strands of hair away, eliciting an unconscious groan, the first noise either of them made, "Come on, let's get them back to the ship."

Basket stretchers were brought out for both of the poor kids had life preservers tied around their necks and bodies as per safety protocol and then they were placed on board the launch and Satoko Katsuta, the pilot, motored them back to the ship. Waiting there were more concerned crew, ready to lend assistance. It didn't take long for the ship's crane to lift the two stretchers into the waiting arms of the Harekaze's crew where Minami Kaburagi, the ship's underage medical officer, was waiting. It didn't take her long to figure out what needed to be done.

"Well Minami-san?" Akeno asked as the two were taken below decks.

"They're badly dehydrated, sunburned, and are completely exhausted captain. I will administer IV's and check for additional injuries. I shall alert you when my examination is complete."

"Thank you, do your best. Shiro-san," Akeno said quickly.

"Yes captain."

"We need to search for any others. They may not be alone, we should use the skippers to search the other island."

"I agree. We should also contact our school and the French school ships, they should be almost here to rendezvous with us, maybe they can conduct a search for anyone else while we scour the islands."

"Okay, everyone, I'm sorry to cut our break short but we're now going to search and rescue stations!"

 **Well, another one in the books. Hopefully everyone is enjoying it, because I am. Next story in line is "Soldiers of the Republic" but I may finish up a separate story's first chapter and post it in the meantime. It's been a fandom I've wanted to write for for some time, Army Men Sarge's Heroes. It's gonna be a good one, I've been looking forward to it for some time.**

 **Next Chapter Preview: What's happened here, and where's the Texas?**


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